butterfly wings
by sleepless-royalty
Summary: "I can see them now, Luce." - Who knew that it would ever end up like this? / Do you believe in fairies? Lucy Heartfilia sure does. Everyone else? ...Not so much. So, of course, Natsu Dragneel is going to have to deal with that. - T for my paranoia. multichap. high school!au. [nalu, gajevy, and more]
1. Prologue

**Here is a multichap attempt that I'm hopefully going to continue for once. .-.**

 **I'm only going to say this once: I DO NOT OWN FLIPPING FAIRY TAIL. While I may be Asian, I am not Japanese in the slightest.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

 _she lives in a fairy tale,_

 _somewhere too far for us to find._

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.

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Lucy Heartfilia was an anomaly.

There really was no clear explanation for as to _why_ she was considered as such - maybe it was the fact that she was a philosophical, analytical queen during science class who found deeper meaning to every formula or basic truth, and specific and starving for clarity and clear-cut answers in the middle of literature. Perhaps it had something to do with her uncanny ability to get even the most cold and uncaring beings to open up their troubles to her. Or maybe it was simply her natural, magnetic charisma that drew in anyone who lay their eyes on her.

Then again, perhaps it had something to do with the fact that despite her cheery disposition and realistic - although somewhat romanticized - outtake on life, there was a faraway glint in her eyes that told fantastical tales of magic and myths, the yearning for adventure and a happily ever after. Because, despite everything the russet-eyed blonde spoke of when handing out neighborly advice, despite the fact that she fervently denied the existence of eternal happiness - ( _"Happiness is not a state of being, it is but a fleeting emotion that you must appreciate, for it clears your mind of all negativity, albeit for a short amount of time."_ ), - there was a child inside of her, screaming for this so-called non existent state of being. For adventure. For freedom.

For a time, her friends broke into passionate speeches about how happiness _was_ something one could achieve, how happy endings _could_ become reality, how magic _did_ exist, however in a different form. It seemed to work, because a sudden light in the blonde's eye lit anew, and her friends had never quite realized until that very moment that this strange girl had never been truly complete until it came. It was as though they had broken her from some sort of exhausted cycle she had forced upon herself. A new hope ignited within her like a forest fire, wild and free and burning and passionate and strong and unstoppable.

It was wonderful.

And then it wasn't.

.

.

.

 _forgotten the taste and smell_

 _of a world that she's left behind._

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 **Please review! Constructive criticism welcome! Hope you enjoyed~**


	2. Chapter 1

**Oho, thanks for the reviews XD Hope you enjoy this chappie~**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _It's all about the exposure_

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Being a new student, despite his infectious grin and slightly overwhelming personality, was absolutely _nerve wracking_ for Natsu Dragneel.

He could take the stupid bullies at his old school, he could take the so-called "terrifying" bullies out on the streets, but being thrust into an entirely new environment where responsibility might have a completely different definition and weight? No, thank you. He'd rather kiss the moronic stripper he called his best friend-slash-archnemesis.

The salmon-haired boy was standing outside of the grand school of Magnolia High (Natsu had snorted when he had heard the name, and proceeded to comment on the _creativity_ of the founder). The walls towered over him, so much that he felt like a dwarf in comparison. The double doors were intricately decorated, however the effect was ruined by the many posters and spray paint decorating the smooth wood. The rough gray walls had obviously been tagged various times by a variety of different street artists, ranging from the typical swearing to masterpieces that should've been hanging on a wall in one of Magnolia's art museums.

"Are you Natsu Dragneel?"

The teenaged boy glanced up from his _oh-so-interesting_ activity of kicking a pebble around. He lifted one of his hands from the pocket of his red hoodie to give the girl - who honestly didn't look to be all that much older than him - a two fingered salute.

"Yo."

The girl frowned at him, evidently appalled by his lack of manners and eyeing his scarf and grass-stained jeans distastefully. However, she was courteous enough not to comment on it. She pushed her purple-frame glasses up, giving Natsu a clear view of her dark _dark_ brown eyes that seemed to have a permanent stern glint in them. She brushed a long, red - no, scarlet would be the more accurate term - strand of hair from her face and plastered on a polite smile. From her perfectly color coordinated jacket and skirt, button up white blouse, and shiny black shoes with knee-high socks, Natsu could tell she was one of those organized - maybe control freak - types.

"My name is Erza Scarlet," she said somewhat pleasantly, though her teeth were gritted. " _Pleasure_ to meet you."

From her tone of voice, Natsu doubted that was what she meant at all.

"Nice ta meetcha, too," the boy grinned at her. "I'm the new junior, but ya knew that anyways, didn'tcha?"

Erza's disapproving glare wasn't erased from her face immediately, but it softened, as if realizing that this kid clearly meant no harm.

"Magnolia High is glad to have you here, Natsu," the redhead said, clapping the other on the back so hard he nearly spat out a lung. "I myself am a senior, however I am the student body president, and am therefore obligated to show you around the campus."

She handed him a fluorescent yellow paper, and Natsu winced from the brightness. His eyes trailed over the black ink, confidence wavering. He was about to open his mouth to point something out to his guide, when she interrupted:

"That is your schedule, I have taken the liberty to read it over and memorize it, as I am to show you to each of your classes today."

Natsu nearly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed as though some all-powerful deity was having mercy on him - for the day, at the very least.

"Your first class is literature."

Or maybe not.

Literature lived up to every one of Natsu's expectations. That would've been a good thing had Natsu actually expected good things to happen in the class that Satan himself had created.

It had already been bad enough when he had evidently used up all excuses to stall Erza, and she had already gotten so frustrated she pushed him into the classroom, loudly announcing his name and then storming off without another word. Natsu had then squeaked a hello before lightly padding to a seat and attempting to ignore the dirty looks his classmates were throwing him for interrupting their beloved class.

That's when Natsu found things went from bad to worse. The teacher was absolutely atrocious, using words that he had never even known existed until that teacher used them, the students were all the teacher's pet kind, ninety-nine point nine percent of them had already read the book (which was horrifyingly long, by Natsu's standards, too) and had already annotated and come up with various discussion topics for it. How was this class low-level literature again?

The only plus side to the whole debacle was the fact that the hardworking, doe-eyed students had swarmed the front and center of the classroom (seriously, how were they even juniors?) leaving the back corners of the classroom nearly deserted.

Operative word being nearly.

In the two back seats nearest to the left corner of the classroom were two students about his age. A boy and a girl.

The boy was extremely rough around the edges, long black hair in a ponytail that reminded Natsu funnily of a tomboyish chick. Silver piercings dotted his face and arms, comically replacing his eyebrows. He was dressed in the overrated colors of black and different shades of gray, a rhinestone skull on the front of his ripped, sleeveless shirt completing the stereotypical "bad boy" look.

The girl was much more angelic with a silver pixie cut with a strange tint of lavender. Her eyes were a wide-eyed, innocent blue with a twinkle of something mischievous. She was clothed in shades of blue and lavender. Natsu was surprised she wasn't amongst the swarm of goody-two-shoes crowding around the teacher as though what he was saying were gospel.

"Err, hi," Natsu greeted awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his."'m Natsu."

The boy grunted while the girl giggled.

"We know," she said airily. "Erza made it quite clear. I'm Lisanna Strauss, and this big lug is Gajeel Redfox."

She kicked the side of Gajeel's shin, smile never wavering as she stuck out a porcelain-skinned hand.

Natsu took it awkwardly.

He dropped his textbooks on the desk next to her, eyes skimming over the titles and cringing.

"Alright, students!" their considerably less pretentious assistant teacher hollered, voice resounding all over the room. "I want you all to separate yourselves into groups of three, read chapter one, and then analyze! Starting now!"

Mere moments later, Natsu found himself in a group with Lisanna and Gajeel.

"Why don't we all take turns reading a chapter each class?" Lisanna suggested. "I'll start."

Maybe this class wouldn't be so bad after all.

.

.

.

 _The lens, I told her_

* * *

 **Kind of a filler. YAY WE GET TO MEET NATSU WHOO-HOO**

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 **Review Corner :3**

 **Lazyboys:** thank you! :3

 **MarSofTheGalaxies:** I actually have, I don't know what you mean.

 **jingerr:** Yes it is, haha, I forgot to add it to the summary. And thank you!


	3. Chapter 2

**Seriously, I love it when y'all review. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside XD Like, I brag to my friends about it SO DON'T DISAPPOINT ME! XD**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 _Well go get you shovel,_

 _And we'll dig a deep hole_

 _._

 _._

 _._

"What'd you say, Metal Head?"

"Exactly what you think I said, you freaking pyro!"

"Boys, let's break it up."

"Stay out of this, Lisanna!"

Lucy sighed, shutting her book softly and leaning backwards in her seat, eyes fluttering shut. Rumors of the new student positively flew about the school - "I heard he has _pink_ hair. Pink hair? Can you believe it?" - and soon Lucy was almost positive she knew his entire life story. She knew his birthday (August 21st), the fact that he was a bit of a pyromaniac, his parents abandoned him when he was young and now he was being raised by his older brother, he had a whole group of people he considered to be his family, etc… She had felt bad for the kid. That is, until she actually met him.

Well, "met him." Really, it was more like she was just calmly passing by when Gajeel shoved her into a wall, before his eyes widened and he muttered an apology and he whirled around to punch a maniacally pink-haired teen with a lighter in hand. That was when Lucy decided that she didn't need to pity the new kid, he could handle himself just fine.

"Lu!"

The blonde's eyes snapped open at the sound the nickname.

"Lev!" She smiled happily at the girl approaching. They had met in seventh grade, and been inseparable since. Every other friendship Lucy or Levy had ever had paled in comparison to the one they shared. Levy herself was a rather short bluenette with round hazel eyes and a cheerful disposition.

"Hi, Lu," Levy's eyes trailed over the blonde. Lucy never understood why Levy acted so cautious around her these days, they had been best friends since forever.

"So whatcha doing?"

Lucy beamed, "I'm researching those pixies we saw in my garden the other day. They were fascinating, and so graceful in the way they flew from flower to flower."

Levy's eyes were sad, "That's great, Lu. Keep me posted on your progress."

"What are you up to, Lev?" Lucy asked, not understanding her friend's distress.

Levy puffed out her cheeks, obviously glad for the change in subject, "I just broke up a fight between Gajeel and that new kid, Natsu. Can you believe it? It's only the guy's first day and already Gajeel is fighting him! And Lisanna was absolutely no help whatsoever, she just watched us all, laughing her butt off! The jerk."

"That's interesting," Lucy thought, amused. "Were any of them hurt?"

"That's the thing!" Levy exclaimed. "Gajeel was fighting him like he used to fight Juvia before she met that guy at the pool! Neither of them got a scratch on one another, and it almost looked like they were having fun!"

"Maybe they're good friends then?" Lucy suggested, eyebrows raised. "What do you think, Plue?"

The snowman-like dog that had been sitting to her left merely danced in response. Lucy giggled, not noticing the mournful expression that Levy was giving her.

"That's why I'm so confused!" the bluenette said quickly. "Gajeel never opens up so quickly."

"Then it must be a mystery," Lucy smiled.

"Yeah…" Levy agreed, trailing off pensively. "A mystery…"

* * *

Natsu ran a hand through his hair, beaming innocently at the glaring redhead. Gajeel scoffed at the fake look he was giving the girl, crossing his arms gruffly and grumbling to himself under his breath. Lisanna smiled innocently, crystalline droplets of sweat falling from her brow.

Erza sighed. "Lisanna, Natsu, you can go. Gajeel, we need to talk."

The silver and pink-haired duo high-fived one another triumphantly, ignoring the indignant sputtering of the dark-haired delinquent.

"Erza!" Gajeel cried. "Come on! The pyro is just as guilty as me!"

Erza's expression didn't soften, "Indeed. However, he is a new student, and this is his first day. He gets a 'get out of jail free' card for today."

Natsu bounced in his excitement, "Awesome!"

She turned her harsh gaze on him, causing him to shrink back and whimper, "This is your only chance to get out of this without any trouble. Next time, I won't be so kind."

The pinkette gave her a meek thumbs up before bounding off, with Lisanna trailing behind, and leaving Gajeel to his fate.

"Now," Erza glanced at the ashen face of the former delinquent. "Explain to me your relation to him."

* * *

Hours passed, night fell, blanketing Magnolia in a cool, dark sky, twinkling with stars like fairy lights. Streetlights lit the town, flickering on and off due to their age. The civilians walked by calmly, the majority of them being couples looking for a relaxing evening. However, a pair of friends broke the blissful trance of those around them, laughing and prattling on aimlessly.

"I'm just not able to understand _why_!" the smaller of the two exclaimed. "Or how!"

Lucy smirked, "You've been ranting to me about this all day. I'm surprised to see that you've paid so much attention."

Levy slapped her friend's shoulder, grateful for the slightest bit of normalcy in her tone, "Oh, you shut up!"

Lucy's stare shifted to her right, "Mavis, what do you think?"

Levy's happy expression fell, and she could just barely manage to quirk up her lips into some semblance of a smile. "What does Mavis say? I couldn't hear her."

Lucy frowned, "She said that you're being too obvious about your feelings, and that you should just kiss Gajeel already."

Despite the situation, Levy's face burst into embarrassed flames. It was bad enough when Lucy and the rest incessantly teased her about her little crush, but Lucy's imaginary friends too?

"You think they're imaginary?" Lucy's hurt voice cut through the bluenette's thoughts.

"No! Lu, I didn't mean to say that out loud," the petite girl protested. "I don't think they're imaginary! They're just as real as our friendship!"

"And that just proves that you don't actually think they're real," the blonde's voice was somber and betrayed, sounding as though bits of broken glass were stuck in her throat and she was speaking through the pain. "We were never really friends were we?"

The words were lost amongst the tears and the "no, I swear we were"s, and they both walked away - heartbroken and tired.

 _I'm sorry_. Hazel eyes glistened in the streetlights.

 _That doesn't change anything._ Golden tresses shined in the starlight as she sidled away, regret lingering in the night and the salty smell of fresh tears permeating the air.

She was gone.

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _To bury the castle,_

 _Bury the castle!_

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 **Aww, one of my brotps is fighting. I'm sad that more people reviewed my side project (lights, camera, action/LCA for short) than this, which is my main focus. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed! ~**

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 **Review corner :3**

 **katiesmo:** Thank you! ^-^ And I don't understand what you mean by "where Lucy is at the front"? If you mean the cover, there is no symbolism in it or anything XD I just edited it together on the fly lol. And if you mean the prologue, there is no specific setting.

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 **Only one review ;-; Can we make it a goal to get it to five reviews by my next update?**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 _So one day he found her crying_

 _Coiled up on the dirty ground_

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 _Lisanna is a great gal,_ Natsu thought.

The teen's pale hair was completely visible in the night, but her smile was just as radiant. Natsu grinned in return. He couldn't believe that they had been able to mess around all the way from halfway through the afternoon to the later hours of the night.

They sat down in the middle of a clearing, and Natsu - despite not being the lovey-dovey type of guy - couldn't help but notice just how _romantic_ the whole setting was.

Lisanna pinched her lips together, her brow furrowing in deep concentration, before finally saying, "Tell me something about yourself that you haven't told anyone else."

Natsu froze, feeling as though a cold hand was gripping him. "Uh…"

Noticing the look on his face, Lisanna quickly added, "You don't have to if you don't want to. I just…" Her cheeks were tinted pink. "…want to get to know you better. I mean, we only just met today, so I totally understand why you - "

"I have really sharp senses," he cut her off, beaming at her.

"…What?"

"I don't really tell anyone that because it makes it all the more fun to hear them gossiping or something while they think I can't hear them," the pinkette explained. "Especially when it's about me."

"Is that it?" Lisanna arched an eyebrow, the corners of her lips quirking up.

"I'm an open book," Natsu said breezily.

Lisanna stared at him dubiously, before smothering a snort behind her palm, "So am I." She glanced at his expression, "I have two siblings. For some reason, not many people know that about me. I'm the youngest."

Unconsciously, the pinkette interlaced his fingers with hers, "That must be nice."

Lisanna smiled softly, leaning against his shoulder, "Yeah… It was."

Natsu's fingers twitched. _Was_.

* * *

"Lu! Lu! Lu, please talk to me! I'm so sorry! _LUCY_!"

The blonde in question covered her face with her hands, scurrying through the halls to make it to her next period. She was stopped by a towering force.

 _Gajeel_ , she immediately thought in distaste. _Just what I needed._

"Hey, Bunny Girl," Gajeel snapped. "Have you been ignoring shrimp?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Yeah, so?"

" _So_ ," the older male repeated mockingly. "She's your only friend, girly, no one else thinks you're normal enough to hang out with."

Mavis and Lucy traded an exasperated glance.

"It's because of my _imaginary_ friends, isn't it?" Lucy said bitterly.

Gajeel scoffed, "Not everyone's like you. Your crazy is too much for a lot of people to handle. At least she _likes_ you and wants to be _friends_ with you at all."

"Yeah, well, a _friend_ would believe me," retorted the blonde.

It was Gajeel's turn to roll his eyes, "You've got a lot to learn about friendship. God, I remember the days when I was just like you, a lunatic and selfish. I thought the world revolved around me." His lips curled into a sarcastic smirk, "I thought you were better than that, Bunny Girl."

"I am not _selfish_ ," she replied bitingly. "I am justifiably betrayed. And how many times have told you to not call me Bunny Girl?"

"I'll stop calling you Bunny Girl when you stop being a loon," Gajeel remarked scathingly.

Mavis scowled, curling up her tiny fists and threateningly inching toward the male.

"Not now, Mavis," Lucy murmured. "Don't sink to this _delinquent's_ level."

"Oh?" Gajeel arched an eyebrow. "You're mad at Shrimp and all of a sudden I'm just a delinquent? I thought we used to be friends, Heartfilia."

Mavis growled, lunging forward and pounding on the boy's back in vain.

"Mavis, that's not going to do anything," Lucy admonished the fairy. "Can't you see that he's not affected by it at all?"

Sighing, Mavis shrunk backwards, knowing that it would do nothing for her to keep attempting to fight him. Gajeel appeared perplexed, before realization dawned upon him.

"See?" said he. "A loon."

Lucy pinched her lips together, fingers curling into fists, and socked the black-haired male in the jaw. His eyes snapped open, a roar ripping out of his throat out of instinct. Shock clouded his features - the blonde was known to be a very nonviolent person.

"I am _not_ a loon, thank you very much," Lucy's eyes narrowed. "Have a nice day."

 _One, two, three, four._

She paused, "Sorry for being a hypocrite, Mavis."

Mavis nodded, long blonde hair swishing behind her and emerald green eyes sparkling in amusement, smiling warily her acceptance.

 _Five, six, seven, eight._

Lucy walked away.

* * *

"And then she has the absolute _gall_ to freaking punch me!"

The crisp air of the night wafted around the trio of friends. The stars shone dimly, foreshadowing a not-so-spectacular evening. The leaves rustled in the distance, the surprising amount of Magnolia wildlife scurrying about in the dazzling darkness. Blissfully under the trance of trivial conversation and laughter, the three friends - two boys and a girl - prattled on aimlessly about random topics, pleased to be in the others' presences.

"That just sounds to me like you got beat up by a girl," Lisanna snickered. "One that's a year younger than us, no less."

"You got beat up by a sophomore, metal face?" cackled Natsu. "That's pure _gold_."

The red-eyed teen averted his gaze from the both of them, "It's not just that she punched me in the face that's got me all worked up."

Lisanna paused, glancing up at him, "Was it...Levy's friend?"

Natsu cocked his head to the side in confusion, never having heard the name before. "Levy?"

Gajeel's lips parted, allowing the wisp of a sigh to escape, "Yeah… She's…"

He didn't bother to finish his sentence, "Lucy's Levy's best friend. She was fine for like the first year of high school. We were all friends: Levy, Lis, Erza, me, and some other people you don't know. She was pretty negative though, so we tried to make her happy. It worked, but then she kinda lost it."

"We all sort of…" Lisanna trailed off. "Lost touch with one another. Erza went to be beautiful and powerful elsewhere. Gajeel and I stuck together, despite our contradicting personalities." She winked. "And Levy and Lucy stayed with each other."

"They got into a fight last night," Gajeel explained. "Er, shrimp and I are still on good terms, so I thought that I should help her." He rubbed his jaw, "That was a mistake."

"Shrimp?" Natsu arched an eyebrow.

"Gajeel's pet name for her," Lisanna teased. Sobering up, she slung her backpack over her shoulder, "It's almost 8; I need to get groceries, and the shops all close at 9. It was nice reminiscing with you guys."

Gajeel closed his eyes briefly, "Yeah. See ya. We should do this some more." He smirked, "And we seriously need to rematch, Salamander."

Natsu grinned in response, swinging his legs over the fire truck red park bench they had been occupying. "You just can't admit defeat." He threw his arms around the two, discreetly squeezing the silver-haired girl's hand. "See you guys on Monday!"

Gajeel grunted, and Lisanna laughed, cheeks pink.

Humming merrily at how easily he had acclimated to Magnolia High, Natsu cheerily walked home. Spotting the bus station, he wrinkled his nose.

"Tch," he grunted. "Stupid vehicles."

The bus pulled up, shining its blinding headlights in the pinkette's eyes. Natsu choked down his bile at the very thought of the moving monster. The lights glinted off of something - was that gold?

Natsu rubbed his eyes tiredly, blinking rapidly.

Oh, it was hair. Really long, pretty, silky, _shiny_ hair. It might as well have been gold, honestly. And the head it was growing out of wasn't too bad looking either.

Natsu slapped his cheeks. _Really_? Was he _really_ being a pervert to a random person sitting at a bus stop that could've been ten years older than him for all he knew? Still…he couldn't help but look at her.

Yes, her hair was shiny - shiny and pretty and silky and lo - snap out of it, Natsu! It fell to her shoulders in length, curling softly at the ends. Her skin was pale - not pale as in _pale_ pale, but pale as in she didn't go outside that often but always forgot to wear sunblock when she did. The boy's eyes trailed downward, noting the fact that she was clutching her hands to her chest ( _whoa_ , that chest - UGH, SHUT UP, PERVY BRAIN!) and shivering slightly. The sweater she was wearing appeared to be pretty thin; he could practically see her shoulders through the sleeves.

Realizing his eyes were moving closer to a "danger zone," he quickly looked upward at her face. The pinkette noticed that her lips were moving softly, as though she were talking to someone, but he couldn't see anyone near her.

Eyes moving of their own accord, Natsu nearly choked when he saw her eyes. Wide, brown, innocent, and _full of tears_. The salty liquid mixed with the crisp air of the evening, but, with Natsu's enhanced senses, he was surprised he hadn't noticed earlier.

Awaking from his hormone-induced stupor, the male timorously sidled up to the blonde. Getting a closer look at her, she was probably about his age, actually.

"Hi," he said, smiling briefly. "'m Natsu."

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _Her prince finally came to save her_

 _And the rest you can figure out_

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 **Ohohoho, and so they meet. This is the last prewritten chapter D: My updates probably won't be as consistent anymore - I'm not too mopiated to continue any of my stories, really, because of the stagnant amount of reviews. Thank you to those who did review though, I really appreciate it :D**

 **I hope all of you enjoyed! This is probably my favorite chapter so far.**

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 **Review corner :3**

 **XxBlackHunterLoverxX:** Thank you! Here it is :D

 **Moonlight Meow:** Thank you!


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